Laurence Reisman: Condi Rice could have been Candidate Rice at Riverside

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Distinguished Speaker's Luncheon at the Boys & Girls Club of Martin County in Hobe Sound. (STEVEN MARTINE/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought Condoleezza Rice were running for president.

On the eve of Florida's primary, Rice offered patrons of Riverside Theatre's Distinguished Lecture Series five minutes of inspiration that should have been accompanied by "The Star-Spangled Banner."

She spoke of numerous international crises, then U.S. malaise after victories in the Cold War and over al-Qaida.

"Anyone who wants to re-energize the American people has got to say, 'it's not just important what we've done, but who we are,' " the former U.S. secretary of state, now Stanford University political science/global business professor, began.

"If the proverbial man from Mars were to come down and say, 'Who are these Americans?'… you'd have to say, 'Well, they actually share no ethnicity, nationality or religion; they have ancestors who come from every corner of the Earth. And he would say, 'That's got to be difficult.'

"And you say, "Yes, and by the way they're Muslim and Jewish … Christian, Protestant and Catholic, and some of them believe nothing. And he might say, 'That's remarkable. So what is it that holds them together?'

"There's this aspiration ... they believe it doesn't matter where you came from, it matters where you're going. You can come from humble circumstances and you can do great things. That has united them to be the greatest driver for human potential in history.

"They've done it because 'we the people' has been an expansive concept," she continued. "They come from the poorest countries and have made $5, not 50 cents. And they come from wealth and wealthy countries … And because of that they have been the most innovative and creative people on the face of the Earth.

"They've not been captive of class … There are many examples who are CEOs of their companies who started in a housing project with a single mom."

But, Rice said, opportunities are limited.

"I can look at your ZIP code and I can tell if you're going to get a good education," she said. "If you are of means you will move to where the school districts are good … and if you're really well off you'll send your kids to private schools.

"And who is stuck in failing neighborhood schools? Poor kids. And they have no hope, because if you don't read by the time you're in third grade you're not going to read.

"We've left some of our citizens behind also with inferior skills for the jobs that are available," she said. "They're angry … they thought they did all the right things and now they just want to turn over the tables and start over. That's what we're seeing in this election."

"And so the challenge is not just to do what we have done," she said, "but to remember and reinforce who we are. This world needs leadership from the freest and the most compassionate nation on the face of the Earth.

"It can be done because the American people have so many times made what was once impossible seem just inevitable in retrospect. And as an exceptional, extraordinary country, we've been willing to sacrifice in far corners of the world in ways none might have ever done before."

The challenge for our next leader?

"Remind us that we are people that believe first and foremost in the individual and the ability of the individual to change history, but that we have to equip … every child, to do that," she said.

Also, remind Americans of the value of the private sector to create jobs and that North American energy can help keep enemies at bay.

Rice talked about "change." She described becoming secretary of state and swearing to defend the U.S. Constitution, the same document that branded her slave ancestors as three-fifths of a man.

"It says what's possible when an extraordinary people put their minds to the process and the necessity of change. We'll do it again. We must do it again."

Rice, who reiterated Monday she does not have DNA to run for elected office, likely will not be that change leader — even at a brokered Republican convention.

Too bad. She would have added a distinguished voice to the ugly campaign.

About Laurence Reisman

Laurence Reisman is community editor of the Press Journal in Indian River County and a member of Treasure Coast Newspapers’ editorial board.